Distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of Svalbard permafrost revealed by DNA- and RNA-based analyses
The active layer of soil overlaying permafrost in the Arctic is subjected to dramatic annual changes in temperature and soil chemistry, which likely affect bacterial activity and community structure. We studied seasonal variations in the bacterial community of active layer soil from Svalbard (78°N)...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4415418 2023-05-15T14:59:51+02:00 Distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of Svalbard permafrost revealed by DNA- and RNA-based analyses Schostag, Morten Stibal, Marek Jacobsen, Carsten S. Bælum, Jacob Taş, Neslihan Elberling, Bo Jansson, Janet K. Semenchuk, Philipp Priemé, Anders 2015-04-30 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4415418/ https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00399 en eng Frontiers Media S.A. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4415418/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00399 Copyright © 2015 Schostag, Stibal, Jacobsen, Bælum, Taş, Elberling, Jansson, Semenchuk and Priemé. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. CC-BY Microbiology Text 2015 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00399 2015-05-17T00:02:57Z The active layer of soil overlaying permafrost in the Arctic is subjected to dramatic annual changes in temperature and soil chemistry, which likely affect bacterial activity and community structure. We studied seasonal variations in the bacterial community of active layer soil from Svalbard (78°N) by co-extracting DNA and RNA from 12 soil cores collected monthly over a year. PCR amplicons of 16S rRNA genes (DNA) and reverse transcribed transcripts (cDNA) were quantified and sequenced to test for the effect of low winter temperature and seasonal variation in concentration of easily degradable organic matter on the bacterial communities. The copy number of 16S rRNA genes and transcripts revealed no distinct seasonal changes indicating potential bacterial activity during winter despite soil temperatures well below −10°C. Multivariate statistical analysis of the bacterial diversity data (DNA and cDNA libraries) revealed a season-based clustering of the samples, and, e.g., the relative abundance of potentially active Cyanobacteria peaked in June and Alphaproteobacteria increased over the summer and then declined from October to November. The structure of the bulk (DNA-based) community was significantly correlated with pH and dissolved organic carbon, while the potentially active (RNA-based) community structure was not significantly correlated with any of the measured soil parameters. A large fraction of the 16S rRNA transcripts was assigned to nitrogen-fixing bacteria (up to 24% in June) and phototrophic organisms (up to 48% in June) illustrating the potential importance of nitrogen fixation in otherwise nitrogen poor Arctic ecosystems and of phototrophic bacterial activity on the soil surface. Text Arctic permafrost Svalbard PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Svalbard Frontiers in Microbiology 6 |
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English |
topic |
Microbiology |
spellingShingle |
Microbiology Schostag, Morten Stibal, Marek Jacobsen, Carsten S. Bælum, Jacob Taş, Neslihan Elberling, Bo Jansson, Janet K. Semenchuk, Philipp Priemé, Anders Distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of Svalbard permafrost revealed by DNA- and RNA-based analyses |
topic_facet |
Microbiology |
description |
The active layer of soil overlaying permafrost in the Arctic is subjected to dramatic annual changes in temperature and soil chemistry, which likely affect bacterial activity and community structure. We studied seasonal variations in the bacterial community of active layer soil from Svalbard (78°N) by co-extracting DNA and RNA from 12 soil cores collected monthly over a year. PCR amplicons of 16S rRNA genes (DNA) and reverse transcribed transcripts (cDNA) were quantified and sequenced to test for the effect of low winter temperature and seasonal variation in concentration of easily degradable organic matter on the bacterial communities. The copy number of 16S rRNA genes and transcripts revealed no distinct seasonal changes indicating potential bacterial activity during winter despite soil temperatures well below −10°C. Multivariate statistical analysis of the bacterial diversity data (DNA and cDNA libraries) revealed a season-based clustering of the samples, and, e.g., the relative abundance of potentially active Cyanobacteria peaked in June and Alphaproteobacteria increased over the summer and then declined from October to November. The structure of the bulk (DNA-based) community was significantly correlated with pH and dissolved organic carbon, while the potentially active (RNA-based) community structure was not significantly correlated with any of the measured soil parameters. A large fraction of the 16S rRNA transcripts was assigned to nitrogen-fixing bacteria (up to 24% in June) and phototrophic organisms (up to 48% in June) illustrating the potential importance of nitrogen fixation in otherwise nitrogen poor Arctic ecosystems and of phototrophic bacterial activity on the soil surface. |
format |
Text |
author |
Schostag, Morten Stibal, Marek Jacobsen, Carsten S. Bælum, Jacob Taş, Neslihan Elberling, Bo Jansson, Janet K. Semenchuk, Philipp Priemé, Anders |
author_facet |
Schostag, Morten Stibal, Marek Jacobsen, Carsten S. Bælum, Jacob Taş, Neslihan Elberling, Bo Jansson, Janet K. Semenchuk, Philipp Priemé, Anders |
author_sort |
Schostag, Morten |
title |
Distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of Svalbard permafrost revealed by DNA- and RNA-based analyses |
title_short |
Distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of Svalbard permafrost revealed by DNA- and RNA-based analyses |
title_full |
Distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of Svalbard permafrost revealed by DNA- and RNA-based analyses |
title_fullStr |
Distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of Svalbard permafrost revealed by DNA- and RNA-based analyses |
title_full_unstemmed |
Distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of Svalbard permafrost revealed by DNA- and RNA-based analyses |
title_sort |
distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of svalbard permafrost revealed by dna- and rna-based analyses |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4415418/ https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00399 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic permafrost Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic permafrost Svalbard |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4415418/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00399 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2015 Schostag, Stibal, Jacobsen, Bælum, Taş, Elberling, Jansson, Semenchuk and Priemé. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00399 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
6 |
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1766331973330010112 |